G4S is facing fresh controversy after the Government announced it plans to refer the private security giant to the Serious Fraud Office for a second time.

The Ministry of Justice said that after auditing 15 big outsourced contracts worth almost £4 billion, it had discovered “serious issues” on G4S’s running of facilities management for the British courts. The problems covered “invoicing, delivery and performance reporting”, the Government said.

G4S is already under investigation, together with rival Serco, for overcharging on electronic tagging contracts, including for offenders who were imprisoned or dead.